Are The Extra Workshops Helping Sea Bright Recover?

In a recent post on Word at the Shore Sea Bright Officials highlighted the importance of improving the borough’s riverfront and access to it. It went on the outline how they are currently in the permitting process with DEP and how a landscape architect is donating services for a landscaping plan for a proposed new park.

Which got me thinking how is Sea Bright doing it? What do their council agendas/meetings look like and how are they different than ours. So I looked. One of things I noticed is that in 2014 they added workshops to their monthly meetings.

Are they legally “required” to have these meetings, probably not. However these are the topics discussed at their extra meetings: (Taken from March 2014 WorkShop)

What is covered in a workshop meeting vs. executive session? I checked the 5/7/14 minutes and while it was a workshop/regular meeting, it doesn’t appear that any workshop items were addressed. Do we not have any or are they pushed aside so the executive session items can be discussed?

So you’re saying the SB workshop meetings = our executive session meeting? I thought our executive session meetings were to discuss things that could not be discussed in public, i.e. litigation. Sea Bright workshop meetings are all public and recorded as public. And when you think about it shouldn’t the recovery planning be public?

hb – yes that’s what I was thinking … the FEMA recovery plan is totally public and I don’t understand why it’s in the behind closed doors executive session. The only caveat I can find is that “anything that will impact federal (grant) money” can be put in Executive Session — I guess to eliminate a potential conflict by self-serving private interests if they are aware of grants and planning coming in. But then again Sea Bright places this in public meetings – so what’s the top secret approach all about?

The Executive Session items are not openly discussed with the public. It’s kind of like a gag order. I don’t know why but the Executive agenda is not listed on the website link for public viewing prior to the meeting>. This is unfortunate because the public can question items they feel do not rightfully belong in a closed executive session and possibly have them moved to the public session … but you would have to show up at 7 before they declare the Council is going into closed session in order to make such a comment.

Based on meetings I’ve attended our Workshop items are pretty much a brief verbal status report given for ongoing projects or events in Highlands (that do not fall under the Executive session umbrella of non-disclosure). Some of them are standard business items for a municipality, and a lot are now post Sandy reports re: grants, engineered projects, etc. that are already being implemented.

nln … the workshops are every other meeting … only 1 meeting per month has them on the agenda. Plus sometimes even when they are listed on the agenda they pass over some items without any input or comments.